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More handpicked essays just for you.
Important role of women's in history
Did the renaissance change society
Women's status in Renaissance
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Romeo and Juliet is set during Elizabethan age when women had to acquiesce to men. This was known as patriarchal society. It was the time when fathers decided whom they are gonna marry to and whom to not. This period was an internal peace between the English Reformation and battles between Protestants and Catholics.
According to Jane Resh Thomas, Elizabeth won the personal respect of both enemies and friends, and she led England at the dawn of its influence as a great nation. Despite her gender and the patriarchal society, she established and maintained her power, carved a career and a life on her own, and refused to marry. (Thomas n.p.) Elizabeth was born in Greenwich Palace, near London on September 7, 1533. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was thirty-two years old.
Normally, as a child, Juliet makes the decision without much thinking, as she assumed that whatever choice her mom made would be great. Juliet’s immaturity and obedience that
The opening of the play The Taming of the Shrew reinforces and challenges class and gender roles in Elizabethan England. In Induction 1 of the play, the character Christopher Sly makes his first appearance; he is being thrown out of an alehouse for not paying his tab. More interestingly, however, he is being thrown out by a woman, not a man. This hostess of the alehouse is taking on a non-traditional role for a woman during this time by throwing him out into the street; she is placing herself in a position of power over him. When Sly tries to yell at her in anger, she simply yells back at him, telling him she will have him put in the stocks, and that she is going to call the constable.
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet was a very quiet girl who followed the rules her parents gave her. But, after meeting Romeo, she started to break the rules and disobey her parents. Juliet is more mature at the beginning of the story, and even though she is more mature than Romeo throughout the book she becomes naive and stops thinking clearly. She experiences love throughout the entire book, from the moment she meets Romeo at the party to the end when she dies. Even though Juliet decided to marry Romeo and kill herself irresponsibly, they were mature decisions for someone her age.
This shows that Juliet was only 12 years old, not even a teenager. She cannot even drive a car and she is getting married. Her father Lord Capulet wants her to marry Paris. Juliet thought about this
Shakespeare depicts important aspects during the Elizabethan era such as the patriarchal power and female agency that was shown by the reigning monarch at the time queen Elizabeth aswell as the belief of fate over free will. Shakespeare portrays patriarchal power over female agency during Romeo and Juliet as a direct example from Queen Elizabeth herself. During the Elizabethan era it was expected for a woman to obey her husband or any male figure of the household. During Queen Elizabeth's reign, she decided to marry herself to the church instead of marrying to a man. This could have been due to the fact that if she did marry her power would have been passed to the male instead.
Initially, Shakespeare explored the theme of power and control by repeatedly highlighting the masculinity of men and the fragility of women of his time period. In the Elizabethan era, men were expected to be masculine, rational, and powerful. This has put a significant amount of pressure on the men during that time and hence is why Egeus’ response to Hermia’s refusal to obey his orders of marrying Demetrius was so extreme - he insists that Hermia’s marriage “shall be either to this gentleman”, Demetrius, “Or to her death”. It is needless to say that Egeus sees Hermia as his possession that he has total control over and “may dispose of her” at any time. The choices Egeus presents to Hermia is utterly unfair, portraying his agency and crushing Hermia’s hope for autonomy even further.
The Middle Ages consisted of Feudalism and was protected by the ownership/military that supports the members of society who did not have very much power. The Feudal society was linked to Serfs who was thought of, as the lowest end of the spectrum, was contributed to no more than slavery and was stranded to the land for life. The serfs who were agricultural laborers and under the feudal system, had to work on the estate to do physical work for the manor and would be confined to the land for the rest of their lives. They were not even permitted to marry without the permission of the lord. The fall of Rome began in the early middle Ages.
Queen Elizabeth I once said, “I have the heart of a man, not a woman, and I am not afraid of anything”. She was the Queen of England and Ireland from November 1558 up to her death on March 1603. She was the last monarch of the House of Tudor with the Elizabethan Period, which is often called the Golden Age of English History. In 1988, historian John Guy once said, "England was economically healthier, more expansive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time in a thousand years. I decided to choose this Period because in my opinion, this period had contributed a lot to the modern day England especially in terms of culture, literature and anything associated with that.
Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet did not display ‘’appropriate’’ behavior or teenage boys and girls because they did not follow the rules of marriage, they ignored their parent’s wishes, and they broke the trust of a parent-child relationship. . In Romeo and Juliet, the characters were much younger, Juliet was only 13 and Romeo was not much older when they decided to marry. Although , Lord Capulet wanted Juliet to marry Paris, he argued to Paris,’’My child is yet a stranger in the world. She hath not seen the change of fourteen years(Shakespeare I.ii 8-9).
Women in the church not only sacrificed all they had in life to become closer to God, but also provided the essentials for younger children to be able to succeed in life. The Medieval Church offered exclusive roles for leadership and guided women to become one with the church. Mostly all of the population during the Medieval Era, also known as the Middle Ages, believed in a Christian God and followed the practices and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Religion, to men and women, was most important during this time and was the center of their lives. The Middle Ages began in the fifth century and lasted until the time of the Renaissance in the late 1400’s.
The Elizabethan Era was a time where men were in charge and women and children were expected to obey. Nowadays, men and women have equal roles in society and one gender is not better or smarter than the other. During the Elizabethan Era, men, women, and children all had specific and defining roles. Men had a dominant role in society during the Elizabethan Era. Men could do many things that women were not allowed to do.
Brianne Aguilar Mcintosh 1 - 2 October 24th Life in the Elizabethan Era Life in the Elizabethan Era isn’t the bright fairytale milieu you ’d expect from a Shakespeare story. This era lasted from 1558 to 1603 and was reigned by Queen Elizabeth I. This epoch is called the Golden Era because of it’s boom in renaissance-like arts and fine literature. Although this period had a lot going for it, a growing amount of dread plagued the lives of this period.
While ruled by a queen, Elizabethan Society was not one of legitimate liberation for women. Instead, women were forced to conform to the societal standards set forth by the patriarchal expectations of their peers. Challenging these expectations could bring debasement to those involved, making it easier for men to enforce their rule over women. Tradition dictated that marrying and having children was not only an expectation for women, but almost law. With these oppressive standards, it would be completely out of the question to think that anyone could confidently break free from the patriarchy.